February Drabbles
by meruhen
Summary: 28 drabbles for the month of February, based on a selection of different prompts. Featuring different characters and pairings
1. Chapter 1

**Title:** February Prompt Drabbles

**Fandom:** Prince of Tennis

**Character(s) or Pairing:** Inui, Yanagi, Yukimura, Tezuka, Niou, Yagyuu, Fuji, Sanada, Atobe, Saeki, Oshitari

**Rating:** From G to R

**Warnings:** Individual warnings for each drabble at the beginning of the stories. Overall - crack pairings, possible oocness, genderswitch, silly ideas, no set plots.

**Word Count:** Varies

**Summary:** Varies

**A/N:** 28 drabbles for the month of February, all given to me by a good friend, Em.

----

February 1; parallel, Inui/Yanagi; 495 words.

-

Inui keeps track of Rikkaidai his freshman year at Seigaku; they are fearsome, winning Regionals and then Nationals because of the drive and devotion of a short, girly looking freshman. He tells himself that it is only for data purposes, because Seigaku will no doubt come against Rikkai at some point, that he watches the team.

He lies to himself because he does not wish to admit his eyes are drawn to one particular figure.

-

In their second year, Inui stands above the bleachers to watch the first matches Rikkai plays of the season, because he doesn't want to be in the midst of the crowds and noticeable. But he sees Inui's gaze flicker to him once, twice, thrice; and it shocks him when Inui is not even listed as a player that day, but an alternate, and singles three is slotted to a freshman.

Rikkai only needs those three games - Sanada and Yukimura are singles two and one, respectively, but even Inui can see they have no intention of playing that day, because Rikkai is merciless.

But it's only the beginning, Inui tells himself, and they are up against teams who will never measure up to Nationals standards.

Yet he can't help but wonder if Inui has been replaced by a freshman as the third greatest player of Rikkai.

-

When Inui meets Echizen Ryoma his third and final year at Seigaku, he feels something, the thing the entire team feels: stirrings of competition and the desire, even greater than before, to win.

It makes his loss to the freshman sting, and makes him remember his thoughts on Yanagi, the year before: did he lose to a freshman, Inui asks himself, and resolves to find out.

-

He doesn't find out until well after their match, well after Seigaku has won Regionals and left Rikkai stunned in the face of defeat. When they meet at Senbatsu, there are no hard feelings, but there is an aura of determination about the three Rikkai players.

Seigaku will have to be even better than before to defeat Rikkai next time. That's what Inui sees in the lines of Sanada's face, the grin on Kirihara's, and the unspoken words that linger in Yanagi's eyes.

He's always been able to see Yanagi's eyes, even if no one else can.

-

"Echizen is a feared player," Yanagi murmurs, as they watch the boy play. Inui knows what he is talking about; this is not about Echizen, but them.

Yanagi has always been able to read the expressions on his face, even those Inui keeps hidden.

"He is good. Improving daily."

"The game is given to those with the drive and dedication."

"Much like your Kirihara."

"He too is improving."

"Lives and situations are too often parallel."

"Not always." Yanagi pauses. "Six games to three."

Yanagi leaves after that, but wastes no time in writing down that piece of information, followed by a note.

_6-3 Y; study Hyperbolic Geometry_


	2. Feb 2nd

Feb 2nd; Sex (Tezuka/Yukimura); 955 words.

----

Yukimura smiles and Tezuka feels a vein in his forehead start to throb. He knows what smiles like that mean, after so many years with Fuji, who likes to torment him, and Atobe, who seems to enjoy it as well, and Inui who is just simply _weird_ and he wonders if it is some curse of fate that surrounds him with smiling... _freaks_. 

Then he frowns and retracts that word. It's far too harsh and not entirely fitting for the collective whole.

What's the collective term for a group of weird, mischievous and cruel tennis players? Tezuka doesn't know and before he can dwell on it - which, being Tezuka, he would not have - Yukimura is slipping into the seat next to him and the smile on his face grows wider.

Tezuka groans. Mentally.

This isn't good.

-

"Ah Tezuka. Throughout the entire camp we haven't gotten much of a chance to talk," Yukimura begins, and Tezuka nods in reply, wondering where this is going.

As if not expecting a voiced answer, Yukimura continues. "Such a pity, I think. Which is why I told myself to change that tonight."

Tezuka looks at him, and Yukimura must have experience dealing with people who do not talk much - _Sanada_, Tezuka thinks - because he doesn't even pause this time.

"And with such an interesting topic having been brought up earlier, well, I figured that I would ask you about it."

_No, no, no_, Tezuka wants to scream, but to do that would be awkward and rude and probably create a panic, so he simply looks at Yukimura, only to wish he hadn't, because that smile is a full-blown smirk and even if Tezuka doesn't know Yukimura personally, he's heard rumors and it doesn't bode well for him.

He chances a quick glance at the Rikkai table, where the entire team is sitting, only one eating and two making a pretense of it. But all of them are watching the table where Tezuka and Yukimura sit with avid looks in their eyes, ranging from gaily amused to stern and frowning. 

He only glances there for a second, and then turns his attention back to Yukimura.

"If it is the topic that was being discussed at lunch, then it is not suitable for dinner, either."

"Ah then we'll wait for after dinner," Yukimura responds, and digs into his food, only to stop a minute later when he sees Tezuka isn't eating. "Eat up. You'll need your strength later."

Tezuka wonders if that's a threat or a promise or just some simple statement. And for once, he is glad that Fuji wasn't serious enough about tennis to gain the rank of captain, or vice-captain.

He almost feels sorry for Rikkai.

-

Prolonging dinner does not work; cold curry isn't very tasty and attempting to eat one grain of rice at a time doesn't work. He gets dessert though, a big piece of cake too sweet for him and eats that slowly, although by the fifth bite he thinks he'll be sick if he continues, and pushes it away after the sixth bite.

"Done?" Yukimura asks, who is lingering over strawberries, dipping them into whip cream and eating them slowly. Another glance at the Rikkai table tells him that Sanada is frowning and the rest of the table is amused and showing it in one way or another.

The Seigaku table is watching him with mixed expressions of horror or awe or amusement. For once, Tezuka wishes he had joined his teammates, instead of being the one to take a separate seat.

"What is it that you wished to ask, Yukimura?" he asks and looks directly at Yukimura. He knows his own reputation, how people tremble and waver beneath his stern gaze, and hopes it will work on Yukimura.

It doesn't, unfortunately.

"I was curious," Yukimura begins, "since you didn't answer anything earlier. Have you had sex before?"

"Yukimura, this is hardly suitable conversation for the dinner table, or indeed, just in general." 

"You're right, it's not suitable for the dinner table," Yukimura agreed, all too quickly and easily, and in a moment, Tezuka felt his arm trapped by a single hand. "Why don't we go for a walk?"

Tezuka groans aloud this time.

There's no getting out of it this time.

-

"Who on your team is having sex?" Yukimura asks, and to that Tezuka breathes a sigh of relief; it's not about him at least.

"I am not sure," he says, which causes Yukimura to smile. Only it's a lot more threatening than any smile Tezuka's seen before.

"Then you must be blind even with your glasses on, and deaf as well. I don't think you're that bad."

Tezuka refuses to answer. 

"Your doubles player... the golden pair?" Yukimura waves his hand. "They have to be sleeping with each other."

"What makes you so sure of that?"

"Doubles players simply don't get that good without learning each other in the most intimate of ways." Yukimura grins. "When we have doubles practices for the regulars, I always encourage a group orgy. And my doubles players all sleep together."

Tezuka thinks he's fallen asleep and is in some weird dream that has no bearings in the real world. A Rikkai orgy? He feels a blush rise to cheek and looks away from Yukimura, who laughs.

A sudden, unbidden picture of Seigaku having an orgy rises to his mind and Tezuka shudders.

"You should try it some time," Yukimura says. "It's quite fun." He pauses for a moment, and Tezuka waits - he knows there is more to come. "I'll even invite you to one of Rikkai's, if you wish. It's helpful to learn some pointers before starting your own."


	3. Feb 3rd

Feb 3rd; Hopscotch (Niou/Yagyuu); 373 words

----

Yagyuu finds Niou with chalk dust on his hands and a entire host of crudely drawn graphics on the driveway when he comes to visit that morning. Niou looks as if he has been up since the crack of dawn, drawing; Yagyuu wonders why, but does not voice his question, simply stands at the end of the driveway until Niou is done with his latest masterpiece.

"I discovered my brother's chalk yesterday," Niou explains when he is done and there is a long row of squares that he knows is familiar but can't place on the driveway, carefully planted between a picture of -

"Is that supposed to be Sanada?" Yagyuu asks, thinking that he shouldn't be disturbed but a banana with Sanada's face and hat wasn't what he expected to see.

"I made everyone into fruits."

- Sanada as a banana and a stick figure being hung.

"You're surprisingly cheerful for being up so early," Yagyuu comments, not a little sarcasm tinging his words, and studies the rest of the pictures on the driveway.

"I was excited. Woulda started earlier if it'd been possible." Niou grins at Yagyuu, and starts digging through his own pockets, until he comes up with a coin, and tosses it, carefully enough to land in the first square.

It's then that Yagyuu realizes what the diagram is for, and he can't help but chuckle, which earns him a glare from Niou, in the midst of his hopping.

"Regressing back to your childhood, Niou?" Yagyuu walks around the hopscotch diagram, stepping carefully to avoid ruining the pictures on either side, and watches his partner hop from square to square, and back again, carefully picking up the coin.

"It's fun to do those things sometimes. Now you try." Niou tosses the coin to him, which Yagyuu deftly catches. 

"I've never played."

Niou stares at him and Yagyuu carefully regards the diagram in front of him, but Niou is in his peripheral vision and Yagyuu knows exactly when the grin appears on his friend's face.

"Yagyuu, my friend," Niou begins, and there's a twist in Yagyuu's stomach because he knows exactly what is coming and partially dreads it, but looks forward to it, "we're going to rediscover your childhood today."


	4. Feb 4th

Feb 4th; Pythagoras (Yanagi/Inui); 276 words.

----

"A-squared," Yanagi says over dinner, and Inui looks at him, nods, and goes back to eating. It means nothing to anyone else, or shouldn't, because it's just a couple of words.

But Inui's father, who was the one who introduced Inui to the Pythagroem Theorem, jumps on the words, and adds in more.

"A-squared plus b-squared equals c-squared. It can be used for right triangles, makes figuring out the dimensions easier. I hope you boys are learning your geometry well." Inui-san says boys as if Yanagi is his as well - but after weeks of Yanagi being at the Inui household, or Inui at the Yanagi's, it is common for both families to consider the other boy part of them. It keeps them out of trouble, Inui's mother says. She doesn't know the truth of it.

"We are not studying geometry yet," Yanagi tells the older man. "We start next year. But Sadaharu and I have been looking up facts."

"Keep studying," he tells them. "You'll be at the head of your classes then."

Inui catches Yanagi's eye, as only they can, and grins. As if they needed to be told.

Silence descends on the dinner table again, until Inui speaks, mumbling another term that should not make much sense to anyone. "Negative b," he says, and Yanagi, in the process of lifting his chopsticks to his mouth, stops to laugh.

-

"Negative b," Inui mumbles and jots something down in his notebook. Next to him, Kaidoh looks at him oddly and shifts away.

No one understands, and Inui wishes it were different. But Yanagi is not there, and no one else would get the terms.


	5. Feb 5th

Feb 5th; Blood (Fuji/Niou); 255 words.

----

Niou frowned and shook his finger, only to have the blood run across his finger and not off of his skin like he hoped for, the blood welling and refusing to stop.

Damn paper cut. It hurt worse than being bitchslapped by Sanada or being hit with a thousand tennis balls. It was a good thing there was only one other person in the room with him - maybe not the person he wished was stuck in there, but a person nonetheless, and one who didn't seem to mind the thousand curses that poured forth from Niou's mouth when he'd gotten the cut.

"The blood isn't going to disappear, Niou-kun," that other person said, and Niou glanced up, scowled, and went back to staring at his finger. He wanted Yagyuu, damnit, because Yagyuu would probably have a bandage in his pocket, or a napkin at least. Or Yanagi. Yanagi would be a good one to be stuck in a room with when you were bleeding insanely from a bitch of a cut. He didn't want to be stuck in a room with Seigaku's Fuji Syuusuke, who just kept on smiling, even through Niou's rampaging curses, and waited for him to calm down.

But then Fuji's hands were on his hand, which Niou didn't expect, and he looked up then, and it was still creepy because Fuji was smiling even as he brought Niou's finger to his mouth and started to suck -

"Damnit, I knew I was gonna get stuck with one of the freaks."


	6. Feb 6th

Feb 6th; Test Subject (Yanagi/Yukimura); word count unknown.

----

"Seiichi, I was hoping to catch you and not your voicemail. However, this will do." Yukimura listens to the message with faint amusement; Yanagi sounds so formal over the phone. "I need a test subject for an experiment, and you would be the best one to study. It's a simple test, I will explain further in private, but owuld you be willing to do it?"

Yukimura stares at his phone for a minute after Yanagi's voice has died off, and then calls back his friend: he's bored, and Yanagi's tests never hurt. If he works it right, he can get a game out of his friend - it's winter and winter means little practice, even fewer matches, and Yukimura's suffering from a lack of tennis, like a normal person would suffer from a lack of food.

He calls back, and Yanagi picks up on the first ring; arrangements are made and before Yukimura hangs up, his friend is on the way over.

-

"What's this test for?" Yukimura asks, when they're back in Yukimura's room, with drinks and snacks, and Yanagi, for once since Yukimura met him, is avoiding his gaze.

"It's for one of the college classes I'm taking," Yanagi murmurs, and takes out a small sheaf of papers. Yukimura's intrigued - Yanagi never talks about the two extra courses he's taking, although they all know what classes he has. And to be asked to help; Yukimura can't help but grin, and leans forward to grab the papers, although he pauses just before grabbing them.

"I want a tennis game after this," Yukimura tells him.

He doesn't entirely understand why Yanagi laughs at that, the laughter startled out of him, until he glances at the papers.

-

Yukimura takes his time filling out the questions, although Yanagi knows it shouldn't take long. And Yukimura glances at him from time to time, holding back laughter that is evident in his eyes.

Finally, it's handed back to him, although Yukimura keeps his fingers across the bottom of the page until he can speak.

"Really, Renji, you should know all of this already. I'm surprised you had me fill it out."

"I didn't want to cheat on it," Yanagi murmurs, and tries to pry off Yukimura's hand. It doesn't budge.

"Are you going to ask anyone else to fill this out?"

"Yes; I plan on giving it to the rest of the team and then a randomly selected class."

"You're going to skew your data for this assignment of yours."

"Who says I want the team to fill it out for the assignment?" 

Yukimura laughs at that. "We're going to play now." He mvoes his hand at that, and Yanagi gets a glimpse of the line he'd written down.

It makes him grin.


	7. Feb 7th

Feb 7th; Similarities (Sanada/Atobe); word count unknown.

---

"You and Rikkaidai's Sanada are alike," Oshitari comments, because Atobe is watching the Rikkaidai team as they are leaving the camp grounds and a couple of weeks of memories good, bad, and interesting.

"What nonsense. Ore-sama is nothing like that arrogant jerk from Rikkai," Atobe tells him, turning to glare at Oshitari.

"People call you an arrogant jerk, as well."

-

"I have to play doubles with Hyoutei's Atobe," Sanada snaps, pacing the length of Yukimura's room and glares at his captain when his only response is to laugh. "It's not funny, Yukimura."

"It's hilarious." Yukimura grins, not bothering to hide his laughter. "You and Atobe are enough alike to make this match a good one."

"Atobe and I are nothing alike." Sanada stiffens at that, and continues to glare. "He's a pompous idiot."

"I think that's one of Niou's lesser used descriptions for you. He normally prefers 'anal-retentive jackass'."

"Niou needs more things to do with his time." Sanada scowls. "I'm assigning him laps tomorrow."

-

"I wasn't aware you had a fondness for Latin music," Atobe says, as he leans against his limo and watches Sanada walk from the building. "I would have assumed you enjoyed classical Japanese music."

"I enjoy all forms of music," Sanada tells him, which is true. "Latin is my favorite, however."

It makes Atobe frown, because it reminds him only too well what Oshitari said, about him and Sanada being alike - he's much like Sanada in the area of music. It's disconcerting.

"Good night, Sanada," are Atobe's parting words, as he slides into the limo after that short conversation. It's better than facing Sanada.

-

"He's confusing beyond words," Sanada bursts out to Yukimura, who hardly blinks.

"Who is?"

"That stupid peacock." Sanada walks away then, made angry by his emotions and by Atobe himself, and leaves Yukimura staring at his back. If Yukimura were not Yukimura, he would not know who Sanada was referring to.

"See, alike," Yukimura murmurs.

-

"He has horrible taste in clothing."

"And you don't, Atobe?" Oshitari asks, his voice an amused drawl.

"No, I don't. Ore-sama has perfect taste."

"Right," Oshitari says, and laughs, and Atobe is left glaring at his friend and teammate.

-

"Stay out of my way, and we'll win." It's Atobe who speaks first, and Sanada who echoes them a second later, and both end up scowling - Atobe's a moue of distaste and Sanada's the glare he uses on his unruly teammates, and both rush to speak again.

"I'm nothing like you." This time there's not even a second between their words, making it an echo: They speak together, and it's enough to make them both turn away.


	8. Feb 8th

Feb 8th; Lost and Found (Fuji/Saeki); really short.

---

"Sae-chan, have you seen my racket?" Fuji asked, three weeks after he'd moved from Chiba to Tokyo. The Fuji's had startled settling in, quite nicely; most of the unpacking was done and the boys and Yumiko were fixing their rooms to their liking.

But Fuji's racket was gone. None of the boxes had yielded it, even the box with the rest of his tennis gear, the balls and wrist bands and spare racket.

"No, I haven't," Saeki responded, staring at the two rackets side by side on the bed; one his, made by Oji. The other, another handmade racket by Oji, but one that wasn't his: that racket was oddly shaped, octagonal in form, and not something Saeki would ever use. It was one made for someone unique and just as odd. "But if it turns up, I'll let you know."

"Don't worry," Fuji said. "I'll find another one. I'm sure my racket is in good hands, wherever it is."


	9. Feb 9th

Feb 9th; Honour (Sanada/Yanagi); word count unknown.

---

"We'll manage," Yanagi says, as they walk from Yukimura's hospital room. He knows Sanada does not want to hear it, but he needs to. Lines are settling around Sanada's eyes that shouldn't be on the face of a teenager.

Sanada nods, and says nothing, but the force that he uses to open the door to the hospital is approximately five times what he needs to use.

Yanagi's surprised it's that low.

-

"Always win, Rikkaidai," Sanada murmurs, and slams his fist into the locker. Yanagi, on the bench, does nothing, says nothing, because he knows there is more coming.

Sanada's fist connects with the locker again, and again, until Yanagi finally moves, stands up and grabs Sanada's wrist in a hold that he can't break. Yanagi's stronger than he looks. Most of Rikkai is.

"You're going to wreck your hand if you keep that up," Yanagi tells him. "And then you'll never play again."

"My loss is not acceptable."

"Are you going to beat up Akaya for losing, or myself? Do you expect us to do the same?"

"Your losses are different."

"No, Genichirou, they are the same."

"Akaya will grow from his loss. You have faced demons. I-"

"You will grow, too. You have faced demons. You've struggled with stress, with distraction. It's no different, Genichirou."

"Renji. You do not understand."

Yanagi has to smile at that, and opens his eyes to stare at Sanada. "There's nothing shameful about your loss."

"Yes, there is." And he wants to slam his fist into the locker again, and Yanagi can see it, feel it in the subtle tug at his grasp. His fingers tighten.

"Let go for once, Genichirou. You've done your best. There's nothing else you can do. Nothing any of us can do."

"Yukimura was counting on us-"

"And Yukimura is going to yell and assign us a thousand laps and drill us into the ground. But he's alive still, and we'll be whole again."


	10. Feb 10th

Feb 10; Statistics (Yanagi/Inui); unknown word count

_-_

"Statistics say that almost ninety percent of teenagers will experiment with members of the same sex," Inui says. "Reasons for doing so include discovering their sexuality and practicing, to perfect their technique."

Yanagi glances up and studies Inui's face, for a moment. "And their closest friends are usually other males or females, so it is logical. You can not improve unless you practice."

Inui's fingers shift on the pen he's holding, rolling it. It's not a big movement, not one anyone would notice if they weren't watching carefully. Yanagi notices it.

There is some data that they can not gather from each other, because they are not around each other all the time, because they do not wish to ask and to know. Reading between the lines is easy, with them, especially when it comes to each other, but some lines are vague and unable to be read. And some lines they do not wish to read; it's the same for both of them.

But some lines have to be crossed, some lines read, no matter the pain; Yanagi knows this. That's what motivates him to stand up from his comfortable position on the couch, and cross the room to Inui, who only watches him.

Yanagi's hand runs through Inui's hair and tilts his head back, and Yanagi calmly pulls the glasses from his face, before leaning in. Inui knows what's coming, it's there to read in his eyes. And then Yanagi's lips are pressing against Inui's, and all of his questions have been answered.

Yanagi knows how he kisses; if he did not know himself, Niou had once told him. There's Yukimura there, soft and subtle but dominating, and Sanada, fierce and disciplined and a little yielding, and even a bit of Kirihara's wildness, and beneath it all, Yanagi himself, and further down, just a touch of Inui. Yanagi kisses him long enough, breaking for a breath, to let Inui taste it all.

"I always come back," Yanagi whispers, when he's finally broken the kiss. "But it's always different."


	11. Feb 11th

Feb 11th; Tequila (Oshitari/Fuji); word count unknown

-

No one is sure how it begins, but before everyone realizes it, most of the people at the party are gathered around Fuji and Oshitari, chants of "drink, drink, drink" surrounding them as the boys sit at a table, a bottle between them and ten crystal shot glasses in front of each of them.

"You should stop them," someone says, that sounds suspiciously like a rather intoxicated Tezuka, to Atobe.

"Don't think they'd listen," Atobe slurs, and brings his glass up to his mouth. Even if they would listen, he wouldn't stop them. Everyone's drunk and everyone's having a good time; why change that?

"Ready?" Fuji asks and raises a shot glass, filled with tequila. Oshitari smiles and inclines his head, raising his glass as well. They drink together.

It burns going down, but neither of them pay attention to that, as they move on to the next. There are bets flying around them - Fuji will drink the most, no he'll collapse first, Oshitari will be the first to feel the effects of the alcohol, he'll be the one to throw up first, but Fuji will sway on his feet - but Oshitari and Fuji ignore those. This isn't about simple bets.

It's about them.

"It's not as bad now," Oshitari comments, by their forth glass.

"I've always wanted to know, Oshitari-kun, are your glasses real?" Fuji asks, unexpectedly and out of nowhere, the simple question, and Oshitari blinks behind the lenses.

"No. I simply like the look."

"Aa." Fuji reaches out to pluck them off of Oshitari's face. "I tihnk you look better without them."

Oshitari grins and raises his next shot. They stare at each other as they drink.

The rest of the world fades away.

On six, Oshitari reaches out to tuck Fuji's hair behind his ears, so he can see Fuji's face better.

On seven, Fuji leans in and kisses Oshitari.

-

They make it to eight, but then Oshitari pulls Fuji closer, the table between them too much distance. No one says anything when a couple of the glasses are knocked down, and then the crowd thins. No one wants to see two guys making out, even if they're as pretty as Oshitari and Fuji.

They're left alone, until Oshitari sweeps the glasses from the table, sending them shattering on the floor, and pushes Fuji onto it.

Atobe appears beside them then, leaning heavily against the table. "Go get a room. No sex on the tables. And Oshitari, you are cleaning the floor tomorrow. Ruining Ore-sama's carpet with tequila, how crass."


	12. Feb 12th

Feb 12th; Handcuffs (Fuji/Yukimura); word count unknown

-

"But officer, we weren't doing anything," Fuji insists with a smile, when the police officer approaches and demands they leave. He struggles to avoid looking at them both, Fuji whose hands he can't see and Yukimura with a rumpled shirt. It doesn't work. "We were just sitting-"

"Public parks close at eleven. You have to leave. Two boys your ages shouldn't be out this late, unless-" He breaks off there, eyes narrowing and studying them intently. "Are you boys sneaking out to avoid your parents?"

"No," Yukimura responds, and shifts to look at the officer.

"I don't believe it. You're coming to the station, boys. How old are you anyway? Out past curfew, public indecency. Your parents would be ashamed.

"But sir, we weren't doing anything-"

The officer ignores Fuji to dig out his handcuffs, grabbing Yukimura's wrist first, and chaining him to Fuji. It's almost comical, him chaining them together, the ones he thought were doing something wrong with each other. They exchange amused glances as he leads them to the car.

It should be hard to slide into the back, but they manage, with hardly a word exchanged between them or in protest, and the cop thinks it'll be a silent trip to the police station. He hopes it will, at least; but his hopes are shattered when Fuji speaks.

"We're not doing anything wrong, officer."

"We were actually getting ready to leave. Our parents do know where we are." Yukimura picks up after Fuji, and the cop feels like he's being double-teamed.

"It's too late to be out." The officer glances in the rearview mirror and scowls.

"It's not yet eleven."

"Even so, you two were doing something indecent."

"Actually, Fuji was just drawing on my arm when you interrupted us." Yukimura holds up his arm, the one handcuffed to Fuji's, and pushes down his sleeve, revealing kanji written in black marker on his pale skin. "I needed it done for my class presentation tomorrow; it's on various tattoos used in ancient Japan and I wanted an example to show everyone."


	13. Feb 13th

Feb 13th; Negative Numbers (Yanagi/Inui); word count unknown; slightly to connected to the Feb 10th drabble, Statistics.

-

"Do you ever think that perhaps this is not the best move for you?" It's not Yukimura who asks, although Yanagi has seen it glimpsed briefly in his eyes, or Sanada, who would not ask such a question, even if he wishes to. It's Yagyuu who asks, and not because he's been ordered or because the atmosphere is strained and tense. There is curiosity in his voice.

"Yes," Yanagi responds simply. It's Yagyuu, he's sure of it, but just to be sure, he glances at Niou, comparing and contrasting. There are differences he can easily spot, now.

"Then why are you doing it?"

"Not everything will be good for us." It's Yagyuu, he's positive. But Niou has influenced Yagyuu more than Yanagi realized; he'll have to make allowances for that in his data, later.

Three courts away, Yukimura's serve leaves a second year player trembling. If that is the skill of the senior players at Rikkai, then it will not be long before Yukimura is, once again, on the team his freshman year. And the rest will follow, in time.

It's Rikkai: only the best will survive.

-

Sanada scowls, later in the locker room after practice, and slams his locker shut. Yanagi thinks it's sweet, in a way; Sanada's showing his displeasure, which stems from worry and frustration and beyond that, a vague sense of fear. Sanada's showing he cares.

"Have you figured out how much progress you'll lose in the time you're gone?" Niou asks, amusement in his voice masking something deeper, more serious. Niou's the best at dissembling of them all, he and Yagyuu, and its part of what makes them such a wonderful pair. For all his limited data on Niou, Yanagi knows to expect the unexpected: and his mind has to stretch to figure the unexpected. He's almost able to predict Niou.

"I won't lose any," Yanagi responds. Everyone is watching them surreptitiously, listening closely while pretending not to. They all want to know. "I'll still be training."

"The Regular's are going to start playing next week, in official matches." Niou looks up, tosses a coin in the air; he's ready, only waiting for Yagyuu, and this conversation. "You're willing to miss that?"

"They'll still be playing when I get back."

There's a sigh of relief, not visible, but there; he can feel it in the air, and the tension is no longer as palatable. It throws Yanagi off: didn't they all realize he was coming back?


	14. Feb 14th

Feb 14th; Gravity (Yanagi/Inui); genderswap (meaning they're girls); word count unknown.

-

What goes up must come down, which is what Yanagi tells herself as she stumbles, trips, and the clay of the courts is suddenly growing much closer than it should be. That's the first thing that goes through her mind, body automatically reacting to the fall to lessen the impact, and she doesn't have to think about the fall itself, even when she hits on the clay courts and knows she's going to have a bruise: she thinks about what caused it.

There was nothing on the ground to cause her to trip; her shoe laces were properly tied. It was a simple stumble and fall. But Yanagi was well aware of her own grace, not given to falling over for no reason; she didn't stumble over her own two feet or trip when some boy called out to her, only when she received a big shock, one that did not fit into the mental map she had of her world.

Yanagi sat up carefully, pushing herself up to her knees, leveling her open-eyed gaze at her friend, standing across the courts from her. There are glasses covering Inui's eyes, but Yanagi knows the expression is shocked behind them. Inui's never seen her trip because of some harmless comment.

Yanagi's never known herself to do so, either. But she's never prepared for this situation, either.

"Sakae," Yanagi begins, "I think we should call it a day."

Across the net, Inui clears her throat and opens her mouth to speak; Yanagi knows the questions that will be asked, and cuts them off.

"I'm fine. But I do not think I can play any longer." She smiles and stands up carefully, running long fingers down her just-as-long legs, making sure nothing is too badly injured. It was just a fall; she'll be fine.

Inui takes a step closer, and Yanagi picks up her racket, glances at her friend, and for the second time in her life, walks away from her friend without a word.

-

Halfway down the street, five minutes later, because all Yanagi had done was grab her things and rush from the locker room, her phone starts ringing. Yanagi silences it, and runs the rest of the way to the train station, and the train that will carry her back to Kanagawa and her school and the friends that she has there and her family: the normal world, not the world of Inui and shared secrets and data and not having to worry about being misunderstood or ridiculed, the world that was even more stable than the norm, and has just been ripped out from beneath her.

-

"You seem quiet today Ren," her mother says over dinner, and conversation stops: Yanagi shifts uncomfortably under the gaze of her parents, and grandparents, and older brother, fearing they will see it in her eyes and know. She doesn't want them to know.

"I'm fine," she mumbles into her rice. "Just nervous about an essay."

"It must be quite an important essay, if you are worried about it," her brother teases and her mother frowns, more concerned now. "You don't look good. Are you coming down with something?" She even reaches out to touch her only daughter's forehead, only Yanagi jerks back before she can.

"I'm fine, Mom," she says, and pushes away from the table without an excuse to run up the stairs. She doesn't want her mother to look at her any closer, or her brother to tease her, or her father to read her.

She's shaking when she reaches her bedroom, slamming the door behind her barely in time to hide her first sob. Yanagi doesn't even look at anything, simply throws herself onto her bed and cries, feeling as if her heart is breaking.

It's not, she's got enough common sense to know the heart is not capable of breaking, but it still feels like it.

-

"Why don't you stay home today, Ren?" Her mother sighs and presses her wrist to Yanagi's forehead. "You feel feverish." She frowns. "You never worry this much over school, usually."

"It's nothing Mom, I'm fine." Yanagi struggles to sit up, but gives up after a moment and pulls her blankets tighter around her shoulders; her eyes close as if it will block out the rest of the world. Her mother murmurs something, kisses her forehead, and leaves.

In the hall, Yanagi hears her mother's voice, and then her brothers, and reinvents their conversation - i "Your sister is staying home today," "Why does she get to stay home and I can't?" "You're not sick. Get going or else you'll be late." /i . She can hear her brother complaining, a little more, daily complaints about how he is in college now and doesn't need to go every day, and their mother responds, and Yanagi waits until she can not hear them in the hall any longer before moving.

It's only a couple of steps across the room to her desk, where she picks up her cell phone. It's been off all night, doesn't register the missed calls, but there are a number of voicemails, and just as many text messages. She ignores them all, writes a few quick messages to the people who will notice her absence in class, or later in the afternoon, all except to one person, who will be the most likely to notice but who wouldn't even see her until much later in the day.

-

It's noon, or at least Yanagi thinks it is; she's never been in bed so late, but the direction of her window and the angle of the sun's rays tell her it's got to be close to noon. A glance at the clock confirms it.

There's no disorder or disarray in her mind, no question of why she's at home in the middle of the day or fuzziness, thoughts that it is Sunday. The only thing she wonders is what woke her up. Her family, with the exception of her grandmother, have left, and the sounds of her grandmother moving in the kitchen are there but part of the mental scheme Yanagi has of her family, her house; it's familiar and comforting, in a way. What woke her up was something different: a dissonant note in the music of the house.

It takes a moment to place the reason, but once she realizes what it is, it's hard to ignore: no longer is her grandmother moving about in the kitchen, but walking down the hall, which is not odd in and of itself, but there's another person walking down the hall with her. Yanagi knows this as certainly as she knows her own heart is beating in her chest. And Yanagi knows the footsteps, as well as she knows her grandmother's: it's the last person she wishes to see and the only one she does.

Yanagi shifts in bed, pulls the blankets up so they are almost over her head. She hopes it will stop anyone. But it doesn't. Secretly, she knew it wouldn't.

"Ren?" Inui whispers, and closes the door behind her. There's uncertainty in her voice, a note of hesitation that's never been there before, not with Yanagi. This doesn't exist between them, hesitation and silences and secrets, not anymore, since they have reestablished their friendship. But Yanagi's changed that, by shutting Inui out, and even if years have passed between and they are both older and wiser, nothing ever prepares you for this change.

"Ren," Inui says again. "I know you're not asleep."

-

Yanagi counts the seconds between her breaths, making it as regular as possible, and squeezes her eyes shut against the temptation to open them and look at Inui. It's not hard, she has made it her life to not see, but she wants for nothing more than to turn around and look up at her friend.

"It is twelve-oh-five, and your grandmother says you went to bed last night before nine," Inui begins and moves to stand right next to the bed. Yanagi has to force herself not to move. Her fingers curl into the blankets tighter. "It is not usual for you to get more than six point five hours of sleep, even on the weekends, unless you are ill, and even then, you don't sleep fifteen hours." Inui pauses; Yanagi knows her eyes on Yanagi's back, watching for a flicker of something. Inui's eyes are not as sharp as some - she knows people who can outmatch either of them with the knowledge in their eyes - but she is sharp. And she knows Yanagi better than anyone.

And that, Yanagi thinks, is the problem.

It makes her draw in closer, and it's her undoing, the shift of legs, curling of her back, sliding of her head. Inui knows how she sleeps, they have slept in the same bed too many times to not know each other, and Inui knows Yanagi doesn't move in her sleep, once she's settled into a comfortable position, especially not to curl up smaller.

"Your grandmother also tells me you didn't finish dinner last night, and the family is worried about you." Inui continues and there's triumph in her voice, faint enough that only Yanagi would notice it, if they were somewhere crowded. Yanagi almost hates the fact that even though things are different between them, there is still that knowledge, that connection; no one will read them like they read each other. "You are not sick; you were not developing any symptoms of a cold yesterday; it is not the flu season, so the possibility of it being that is ten percent; you could have food poisoning, but your grandmother did not mention you were physically ill. She informed me she suspects a boy has broken your heart."

The fact that Yanagi's grandmother said that, thinks that, and that Inui is reporting it back to her with the same tone of voice she uses to repeat data is what makes Yanagi move, a shift of her body, pushing back the blankets and scrambling up on the bed, until she's in front of Inui. Yanagi doesn't know what drives her, what's pushing her to do all of this, but it doesn't matter because her hands tangle in Inui's hair and pull her closer and this is going to be the final break, or the patch that fixes it all.

It's not like her to narrow her options to only two. A fifty-fifty chance isn't predictable enough; she doesn't like the odds.

She takes the chance anyway.

"Not a boy," she whispers, but there's no chance for Inui to reply, because Yanagi presses her lips to her friends, who is now not a friend and more than a friend and everything she once was before.

Yanagi's not sure what she was expecting, or even if she was expecting anything. She's kissed boys before, and learned the ins and outs of kissing, but kissing Inui feels completely different, at once weird and exactly right. She's softer, but not completely soft, like some girls appear to be; it's pleasing, in this weird way that makes Yanagi shiver, but then Inui's responding to her kiss and Yanagi's no longer sure why she shivers. This kiss feels right, better than any kiss from any boy, and Yanagi's enjoying it more than any of those, than all of them combined.

Inui's arms go around her and they tumble back to the bed, lips breaking for a moment, but Inui's lips are back on hers a moment later. There's no more wondering, no more curiosity: a promise is whispered in that kiss that's not so much a promise as it is an affirmation of everything they are, everything they will be, together.

-

"This has been a success," Inui murmurs, when she's curled beneath the blankets on Yanagi's bed, and Yanagi shifts to look at her again.

"What do you mean, a success?" Yanagi asks, and her eyes open. "Did you plan-?"

"Not plan." Inui doesn't attempt to hide her grin, because that would be pointless. The grin is obvious in her voice. "He really did ask me to go out with him. But it made me think about what you would say and I thought an experiment would work out best."


	15. Feb 15th

Feb 15th; Denial (Niou/Yagyuu); this follows another fic I've written, found in my journal – meruhen – that is another genderswap fic. So this might be hard to follow.

-

"Niou, you are full of bullshit," Yagyuu said, reaching up to rub the bridge of his nose. He'd normally never say something so vulgar and crass, but it was Niou. And he was completely full of it, at that moment in time.

"I'm serious, Yagyuu. I i watched /i ." Niou lifted his head from where the pillow it was resting on - Yagyuu's legs - and glared up at him. "I wouldn't like about that."

"Sanada, Yanagi, and Yukimura wouldn't have sex-"

"Yagyuu, you know as well as I do that they're fucking-"

"-In the locker room-"

"They've obviously done it in there before-"

"-And allow you to watch."

Yagyuu paused, as if expecting to be cut off and preparing for it, but there was nothing forthcoming from Niou. Figuring that had gotten to Niou - proving that Yagyuu was right - he glanced down at the boy sprawled across his lap.

"I wonder why Yukimura did allow me to watch," Niou said, after a minute of silence.

"Peeking in through the window does not count as watching. It counts as being a pervert."

"I wasn't peeking!" Niou scowled up at Yagyuu and slapped his leg. Rather hard. He was sure it was going to leave a mark. "Yukimura invited me in. Said I couldn't touch, just watch. But then broke that rule and kissed me at the very end." Niou closed his eyes, shivering at the memory. "It was fucking hot."

Yagyuu frowned.

"But don't worry, I doubt it will happen again, and I still prefer you," Niou assured him. "They're girls. And the fucking demons, still. It's fun to tangle with them, but even I'm not stupid enough fuck with them."

"I still don't believe you," Yagyuu said. "Because of the very fact you just pointed out."

"Damnit," Niou said, scowling. "What'll it take for you to believe me?"

"Get Yukimura to-"

"I see," Niou cut him off. "You want to watch next time."


	16. Feb 16th

Feb 16th; Solid, Liquid, Gas (Yanagi/Inui); word count unknown. Connected to Feb 10th and Feb 14th.

-

The stream flows, weaving a course through the forest and down the mountain that is just like every other stream, but there's still enough about it to make it unique, worth watching, at least for the day.

Yanagi sits on the bank and watches the water, and the fish, and the pale smooth stones in the riverbed and the green moss, but mostly, he watches Inui.

"Fishing is more complicated than I expected," Inui murmurs, and looks around for his notebook, that is on the shore by Yanagi. He frowns; he's too far away and too wet to be writing. Now isn't the time to be recording data.

"Of course it's going to be harder, if you are attempting to use your hands." Yanagi's staring at Inui, because Inui is the most amusing sight he's seen in a while; stripped to a pair of pants, with the pants rolled up above his knees, hair a mess, and soaked.

"It's more humanitarian than catching them with a hook."

"Sadaharu, if you're catching them to eat them, then it doesn't matter."

"And there is more effort to be placed into catching them this way." Inui adjusts his glasses. "It's better than sitting around."

"I'm planning on cooking the fish. It won't hurt me to sit around right now." Yanagi stretches his legs out in front of him, leans forward, still staring at Inui.

"You are not exercising."

"A day of rest will not hurt anyone. And I can always go running later." Yanagi shakes his head. "You're not going to catch any fish if you keep this up."

Inui glances at the stream then, remembering what he'd been doing, and attempts to grab another fish. Yanagi has to hide his laughter, but it doesn't work very well and Inui splashes water his way.

Yanagi's startled but not startled enough to not react; dripping with water, he slides forward, plunging his foot into the water and kicking forward, spraying Inui with water. It's the beginning of war, and they both know it.

By the time they finish, there are no fish on the bank, but both of them are soaked and exhausted with excretion.

-

"They didn't think I was coming back," Yanagi says, and breaks the silence that had settled between them. Night was still an hour off, but in the mountains, the air was already cooling. But neither of them moved to return to the cabin.

"They don't realize, do they?" Inui murmured. "You'll always come back."


	17. Feb 17th

Feb 17th; Analysis (Oshitari/Fuji); word count unknown.

-

"You have no data players on your team," Fuji mentioned, leaning against the fence and watching the games being played out on the green courts.

"No," Oshitari agreed, and then added, "none of us have the patience to take meticulous notes and memorize it."

"Too busy basking in your glory?"

"Don't confuse us all with Atobe."

"I don't think he's the only one who thinks highly of himself."

Oshitari glanced at Fuji. "Ah, there are others, but most of the diva attitudes have been dispensed with."

"Replaced by something a tad bit more harsh?" Fuji asked, as Shishido's voice echoed across the courts, a disgruntled "lame" reaching their ears.

"And infinitely more interesting."

"Interesting or entertaining?"

"Aren't they same thing?"

Fuji laughed softly, and changed the subject. "Inui is wondering what we are talking about?"

"You mean he doesn't have supersensitive hearing?" Oshitari reached up to adjust his glasses, looking at Inui. "The rumor on the tennis circuit is that he does."

"No. He's only very good at what he does."

"What an accomplishment, to be good at stalking."

"It might come in handy, in his future."

"Only if he wishes to go into spying."

"The person who really does have supersensitive hearing is Tezuka."

"The rumors get everything wrong."

As if on cue - or maybe a couple seconds late, Tezuka turned around to glare at the two figures leaning against the fence, before returning to his own game with Atobe.

"How many laps do you think we'll get for shortening our match?" Fuji asked, watching the two captains playing.

"Laps?" Oshitari grinned. "I won't get any. I'll just have to suffer a lecture from Atobe on consorting with the enemy."

"Over talking?"

"Telling secrets, he'll think."

"Oh but you're not."

"He won't believe me."

"Unless?"

"There's always an unless."

Fuji smiled and his smile was matched in Oshitari's smirk. A second later, there's no question of what secrets they might have been spilling to one another.


	18. Feb 19th

Skipped posting Feb 18th, due to content and the fact that relies heavily on something else I've written.

-

Feb 19th; Rain (Niou/Yagyuu); 1,150 words.

-

"We should go out," Yagyuu says, and he can't seem to pull himself from the window, even when Niou's silent and he wants to ask why, what's wrong, want to go? Their roles are reversed - it's normally Niou in his shoes. But that doesn't bother Yagyuu, not on this night.

It's eternity or longer, but really only a few minutes, before Niou replies, and it's the same answer Yagyuu always gets; the answer he was expecting but still pains him each time.

"Come away from the window," Niou says, and Yagyuu feels Niou's hands on his shoulders, pulling him away. But Yagyuu doesn't want to move, and even though Niou manages to pull him away, Yagyuu's back at the window after a minute, watching.

The rain pours down; no one could count the drops if they tried, because it's sheets of water, but Yagyuu can see them, the individual drops, watches them silently and traces the pattern of the streams of water on the window, and there's a heaviness in his soul that he doesn't quite understand.

Behind him, in the periphery of his vision, Niou lurks, watching Yagyuu like Yagyuu watches the water. Yagyuu wants to tell him to go to bed, but Niou wouldn't listen, and Yagyuu can't take his eyes, or his concentration, off the water. He lets his mind go, concentrates on the water, and even when Niou draws him back with a kiss, with touches that trace patterns on his skin, Yagyuu can't look away. To look away would bring something horrible, he thinks.

-

Yagyuu never remembers the nights when the heavens cry. He knows this though: he wakes up next to Niou, not in their bed but on the floor near the biggest window in the small house, sore and tired, with a mind clouded and confused and a weariness in his soul that doesn't make sense to him.

Yagyuu asks but gets no questions; he does not give up, but lies in wait, until he knows he'll receive an answer.

-

It's late fall, too late to be moving, but Yagyuu's expecting it; it has been years since it first began and it's happened every year since then. Yagyuu wants to say it was his first year with Niou, but he can't pinpoint it. Everything beyond Niou is hazy. He doesn't know if that first move was his first year with Niou or his tenth. He doesn't ask about that, either.

-

This time, it is near an ocean; Yagyuu's never seen the ocean and studies it, walks to the edge. Niou holds his breath, but Yagyuu's not sure why.

The water's cold and harsh, and Yagyuu draws back before it can do aught but touch his feet, and Niou relaxes.

"I don't like it," Yagyuu says, and Niou's relief is palatable. Yagyuu wonders why, and studies his partner closely for the next few days.

-

"They say he kidnapped a water sprite for wife," the old crone says, and the children all lean forward. "And kept her inside all the time."

"He didn't kidnap her," Yagyuu murmurs, too softly to be heard, and then frowns. That came from nowhere, and he doesn't understand it.

No one could have heard him, but the crone looks up and Yagyuu sees something in her eyes that stirs his soul, the same way the rains do, if he but knew it.

Yagyuu doesn't stay for the rest.

-

It doesn't rain; the ocean seems to keep it away, and Yagyuu doesn't wake up next to any windows, and the heaviness in his soul doesn't haunt him.

Until there's a storm. Niou comes home early, visibly upset, and Yagyuu wonders why. The clouds out the window can't be the reason, he thinks, until it starts to sprinkle, and Niou's unhappiness grows.

"Every region has a rainy season," Yagyuu murmurs. "I don't know why you're so upset at the rain."

Niou says nothing, only watches him, but it's no matter to Yagyuu; lightning cuts across the sky and the rains grow, and Yagyuu can feel something inside of him growing, until he thinks he might burst. All he knows is that he wants to go outside, to dance in that rain and experience the touch - he knows it will be gentle, but doesn't understands how he knows - of the rain upon his skin. But Niou refuses him, and it's the cycle all over.

Yagyuu wakes up the next morning in a worse state than usual, because this time he remembers some: Niou's eyes flashing, his softly spoken 'mine', the heaviness in his heart, and the rain. Especially the rain. He remembers wanting to dance beneath the heavens, and that desire doesn't leave.

-

The storm doesn't leave. Niou mutters and skulks and Yagyuu thinks he's going crazy. But even he - or maybe especially he - can feel the forces within the storm that are not natural. There's no threat in it, for him, but Niou feels differently.

It doesn't rain for days, but the clouds linger, and it's only because the rain has been quiet that Niou leaves. The skies seem to know the minute Niou gets far away enough that he couldn't return home right away, and unleash their gates.

The water calls, like it always does, and the crone's words are suddenly all around Yagyuu. i They say he kidnapped a water sprite for wife. And kept her inside all the time. /i And even though he was not there to hear the rest, Yagyuu knows it. i So she couldn't flee back to her home. And eventually she forgot her home, until it was nothing but a dream, and he let her go out. But he kept her inside when it rained, because the rains came from the same source as his soul, he knew, and if he went out when it rained, he'd remember. Remember and leave him. /i 

The beginning, at least; he knows. Knows because that's not how it was, and Yagyuu knows that with a certainty. It wasn't a kidnapping, it was an agreement between the two. And he kept him inside only when it rained, because those were the spirits sent to take him back.

And Yagyuu doesn't know when the sprite changed from her to him in his mind, but he knows its right that way. It's how it should be. It's the right story, what he remembers, but he doesn't know how it ends. His hands tremble and he goes to trace a pattern on the window, but it's not the window in front of him: it's the door.

He's never been out in the rain, but he doesn't fear it. Everything says it will be gentle, the touch of a family embracing a long-lost and much-beloved son. Everything says it will be okay. This is right; he knows he should open the door and step outside.

The heaviness will be gone then.


	19. Feb 21st

Skipped Feb 20th, due to content and the fact that it relies heavily on something else I've written.

-

Feb 21st; Doors (Niou/Yagyuu); word count unknown, genderswap fic.

-

"You have to go out the same door you came in," Niou murmurs, and grabs Yagyuu's arm to draw her down the hall, in the opposite direction than the one Yagyuu had been walking in. She doesn't question her friend, but nods simply and follows. She knows there's no point in arguing with Niou when she gets on one of her superstition kicks. It'll pass on it's own, and until then, Yagyuu, as Niou's best friend, will have to deal.

Hopefully this week won't be as bad as the sneezing week.

-

"Why are we entering via the back door?" Yagyuu asks, as Niou walks around the yard, to the back door. "Your mother is going to want to murder us if we track dirt into the kitchen and don't take our shoes off."

"We'll just carry them to the front. But the front door is for strangers, and you're not a stranger." Niou crosses the back porch, opening the door and stepping into the kitchen. Yagyuu, behind her, sess Niou-san jump and barely hold back a scream, until she realizes it was her daughter.

"Really, Misao," her mother begin, frowning at Niou. "Why must you insist upon these weird habits with the doors?"

"You could bring in the bad spirits, Mother," Niou replies, and moves aside for Yagyuu, already setting down her bag and pulling off her shoes. Yagyuu can see the slight smirk playing about her lips, as her mother turns away and goes back to cooking.

Yagyuu has to repress the urge to reach up and pinch the bridge of her nose.

-

She knows Niou isn't superstitious. Niou's one of the most logical people Yagyuu knows, barring Yanagi, but that's entirely different. And Niou is the best math student in their class; the boys are envious and Yagyuu knew that if the boys weren't as prideful as they were, Niou would be burdened with tutoring requests.

And at first, Niou's sudden superstition kick had surprised her. To suddenly have a logical person turn completely illogical and insist that the black cat walking in front of them was bad luck was definitely odd. Not expected. But when Yanagi had been just as taken aback, and when others had reacted just as oddly to it, Yagyuu began to get an idea.

It's been weeks since it began, and it's always a different superstition; cats one week, mice for a day, other animals for an entire three days, sneezing for an entire week, sleeping for two days. She recites little rhymes, tells stories about the days of the week and how being born on a certain day of the week can affect one throughout their lives. And insists anyone with her follow the same patterns. There's been no stepping on cracks in the sidewalk, and walking in circles three times backward to banish the bad luck if it happens; walking under ladders was enough to make her almost scream with horror.

So the doors are no different than everything else; the means are different, but the end will be the same - Niou will frustrate everyone around her and grin while doing it and even if the girls gossip about her behind her back, none of the boys will say they can't tolerate the stupid little superstitions, and Niou will have gotten one up on everyone.

Yagyuu wonders when anyone else is going to catch on.

-

"You have to go in the room backwards," Niou says, and grins, brightly. She's been spending too much time with Yukimura, Yagyuu thinks, who is the most devious boy Yagyuu's ever met, and not one who she would be friends with, if not for Niou.

"Why do I have to into the room backwards?" Yagyuu asks, instead of telling Niou her honest opinion - these superstitions are stupid.

"Because," Niou says, and Yagyuu watches her eyes shift, move, and realizes the important thing: this, at least, is all made up. There's no truth to it. And before Niou can continue, Yagyuu turns and walks into the room. Behind her, she hears Niou fake a sigh.

"Your superstitions are silly, Niou," Yagyuu says, and sinks to the chair, crossing her legs like a proper lady.

"You're the only one to think so," Niou says, and drapes herself across Yagyuu's lap. It's easily the closest Niou's ever been to her, and Yagyuu draws back a little, but the back of the chair doesn't give her much room.

"What are you doing?" she asks, shifting uncomfortably. She can feel Niou's breasts pressing against hers, and it's stimulating in the oddest of ways. Other girl's breasts were not supposed to feel as good as Niou's did.

"You're not going to contradict me and tell me everyone else thinks so, too?" Niou drapes her arms over Yagyuu's shoulders, and moves even closer, until they are nose to nsoe, and a simple turn of the head would have their lips meeting and Yagyuu knows she's not supposed to be thinking about such things. She's a polite young lady. One who does not think about kissing her best friend.

"And after you told me that everyone else thinks so," Niou continues, and startles Yagyuu just a little, "I'm supposed to tell you that you're the only one that matters. And if you think my superstitions are that silly, I suppose I shall have to give them up."

"The world will breath a sigh of relief," Yagyuu murmurs, under her breath, but Niou's close enough that she can hear it easily.

"I was just waiting for you to tell me they were stupid," Niou says, and moves her head.


	20. Feb 22nd

Feb 22nd; Pets (Yanagi/Inui); connected to Feb 10th and Feb 14th.

-

"Do you prefer cats or dogs?" Yanagi asks one night, and rolls over on his side to look at Inui, laying in the bed opposite his.

"Both have their good points and bad," Inui says, and opens his eyes to look at Yanagi. His friend is a blur across the darkened room, but he can see well enough to make out the shape of Yanagi's body beneath the blankets, his head resting on the pillow. His memory fills in the rest of the details.

"Such as?" Yanagi asks, although Inui's sure he knows the good and bad points of both domesticated animals well enough without needing a refresher.

"Dogs are loyal and love their owners no matter what, but require a lot of attention and care throughout their lifetime. Only someone dedicated to them, with a passion for dogs, should consider having one," Inui says, thinking back, and briefly wonders if there is more to this conversation than he original thought. "Cats are self-sufficent and require less care, although they demand attention when it suits them. They can be loyal, but they are much pickier than dogs."

"You could apply such thoughts to people, as well," Yanagi murmurs and Inui has to strain to hear. He thinks, if Yanagi's going to keep up talking softly like that, he should move, crawl into Yanagi's bed so they can talk, like they had so many times before.

But that kiss lingers in Inui's mind, highly frustrating, and he can't explore it now, and it keeps him from truly thinking about crawling in next to Yanagi.

"You can," Inui agrees after a moment.

"The loyal and loving, who require affection constantly; for some, it could be a drain on their resources. Or the ones who can survive on their own, but demand attention at random moments; the ones who love them could be left starved for affection themselves."

"People tend to be a bit more complex than that," Inui says, and marvels at the sudden shift of their roles - he's defending the complex human mind, rather than minimizing it into something easy and understandable.

"They are," Yanagi agrees, "and this was not meant to be a conversation about people, but about animals. Which do you prefer?"

Inui frowns for a moment, thinking; he's never considered animals in his life before. "Neither," he finally settles on. "I would prefer something less common as a pet."

"I prefer ferrets," Yanagi, and rolls over; Inui can see the back of his head, rather than a pale blur of face, and he wonders what that entire conversation meant; he'll have to puzzle it out tomorrow. At least he knows this much: their choice of pets would be agreeable.


	21. Feb 23rd

Feb 23rd; Simulate (Fuji/Yukimura); word count unknown.

-

Fuji glances at Yukimura, smiles, and proceeds to scream, then double over and clutch his abdomen, as if in pain.

Next to him, Yukimura ducks his head, hiding the twitching of his lips, and composes his face into a mask of concern.

"Whatever is the matter, Fuji-kun?" he asks, reaching over to place a hand on his back.

"I'm giving birth to our child," Fuji gasps out, and screams again. But this time, everyone around them is staring in some form of horror, shock, or thinly veiled disapproval.

"Fuji, you can't be pregnant," Inui says. "You're a male."

"Are you saying my pain is fake?" Fuji asks, and screams again. This time he sinks to the ground and grabs Yukimura's hand, squeezing it.

"You have shown no other signs of being pregnant," Inui continues, as if he hadn't heard Fuji.

Fuji sniffs and glances at Yukimura. "He doesn't believe me."

"Don't worry, Fuji-kun," Yukimura says. "I'll take care of it." He glances up then, at Inui, and frowns. "You should trust the words of your teammates. If he insists he's pregnant, then he's pregnant."

"Males are not capable of bearing children," Inui returns, just as Fuji screams again and Yanagi places a hand on Inui's shoulder, pulling him away from the pair.

"You should be the one going through this," Fuji insists, and squeezes Yukimura's hand tighter.

"I'll bottom next time," Yukimura offers, smiling sweetly and turns his head to stare at Fuji when he hears Sanada choke and start to cough and Niou start cracking up.

"Fine." Fuji sniffs, then doubles over again.

"You all make poor nursemaids," Yukimura scolds. "Why is no one calling for help or even attempting to comfort poor Fuji-kun."

"Because they don't love me," Fuji wails, and starts to sob.

"So sorry, Yukimura," Niou says, grinning wildly and speaking through his laughter. "I'll go call for help right now."

"Thank you, Niou. I can see who my friends are."

"We're never doing this again," Tezuka says to Sanada, and frowns.

-

Fuji picks up the match, strikes it, and promptly drops it, watching a ribbon of smoke float upwards, and screams.

Around him, the combined Hyoutei and Seigaku regulars stop. Tezuka groans.


	22. Feb 24th

Feb 24th; Seduction (Atobe/Fuji)

-

"They say in Western religions, the fall from the garden of Eden was caused by an apple," Atobe comments, and picks up one of the fruits he had spoken of. "It's really the fruit from the tree of knowledge, never specifically defined as an apple. But people like to think of it as an apple."

"It's fitting, is it not?" Fuji asks, and reaches across the bar to grab the apple out of Atobe's hands. "The colors, it's juice. Especially if it's a good apple." Fuji turns the apple he holds over, his thumb feeling for any soft spots. And not finding any, brings it to his mouth. "Do you like apples?"

Atobe doesn't reply and watches the boy across from him bite into the apple, watches white teeth break at the red skin and sink into the white flesh of the fruit, and watches as juice trails down his chin. Fuji ignores it, as he chews his apple, and Atobe reaches across the counter to wipe the trail of juice from Fuji's chin.

"Enjoy," Fuji murmurs, and takes another bite when Atobe opens his mouth to ask what he meant. With a smirk, as if he knows exactly what Fuji is going on about, Atobe simply licks his finger clean of the juice, and continues to watch.

"Would you like a bite?" he asks, and holds up the apple. Atobe reaches out to take it from him, but Fuji moves his hand, and before Atobe realizes it, the apple is pressed against his lips, in the same spot Fuji had been eating from. There's no choice but to take a bite of it.

It would be just as easy for Atobe to pick up his own apple - there's a basket resting at his elbow, filled with various fruits, some even more exotic than the ordinary apple. But something keeps him from grabbing one. Fuji offers him a second bite, and a third, until they're sharing the apple evenly between them, bite after bite.

Fuji's the messy one of the two of them, but there's a reason for it; Atobe's positive of that. He would do such a thing for a reason, and he doesn't put it past Fuji to, either.

The apple's down the core, and Atobe reaches across the counter, grabbing Fuji's wrists, and pulling him closer; the counter is too wide between them and for once Atobe hates his house. But Fuji's easy enough to pull over the counter and into Atobe's lap, although their seat is precarious.

"I like apples well enough," Atobe says. "But I prefer other fruits." And laps at Fuji's chin, working his way up and clearing the juice from his face, until he's at Fuji's lips.


	23. Feb 25th

Feb 25th; Black and white (Sanada/Yanagi); the first draft of Shades and Shadows.

-

The doctors frown and murmur numbers and statistics, and it's Yanagi's first introduction into the world of data, at the age of three. He listens, and doesn't understand at first, but he realizes enough to know that everyone can fit into a group, into numbers. Five in a hundred have that and one in ten poccess this.

And he learns that people can break data, and that it's often troublesome.

-

Sometimes, when Yanagi is older and knows people who break his data at every turn, he thinks back to his first experiences with information, and smiles, and adjusts for it, easier than the doctors he remembers. Until it's habit, and he learns to write in progress, potential, and any possibilities he can forsee into his data.

It's worth it when Kirihara flashes a grin across the court, or Niou laughs. They keep him on his toes, when his mind threatens to drown with the weight of everything else.

-

In a world of black and white, it wouldn't be so hard; but he doesn't live in a world of black and white, but of color, and that makes things a little more difficult.

When it first becomes apparent that something was wrong, the doctors ran him through test after test; red and blues and yellows and oranges flash before his eyes but none register. No one believes it, and he goes through it again, until they get direct answers from him. That one looks duller grey, this one almost white, the next one almost black.

They send him home, with more appointments scheduled, with different specialists and a new set of doctors. And even though it's only been a week since these tests started, Yanagi has a feeling that there will be more murmurs and frowns and numbers spoken over his head and to his parents, while they pretend he doesn't exist or can't understand.

-

Sanada suggests precision shots, target practice, and the others agree; they're all great - better than great; they're the top team in the nation - but it's practice that makes them great and practice that keeps them great. And not all practice can be done in matches.

"How are we going to do this?" Marui asks, looking around at the small group gathered in the locker room, after everyone else had left.

"Seigaku had this method where they painted balls and cones to match each other and everyone had to hit the colored ball to the correct cone," Sanada says, although he glances at Yanagi from the corner of his eyes. And for once Yanagi can't read that look, although he knows Sanada better than most, because his mind is on greater things.

"Che, copying from Seigaku," Kirihara mutters. "Why should we do that?"

"It will improve hand-eye coordination and test your reflexes." It's Yagyuu who speaks up, but Yanagi sees Sanada nod, and there's something in his stomach that sinks.

-

It takes months for the doctors to come to a decision, and by that time, Yanagi hates the practice of medicine more than he has ever hated anything; he's not even four: he should be hating green vegetables and the trees that howl in the night, but after months spent in and out of doctors offices and labs and once a hospital room over night, for a simple observation on his eyes and brain, nothing is quite as bad.

They've known since the beginning, Yanagi knows, because he hears them speak. Words like colorblindness and color deficiency and monochromasy and trichromasy and deuteranomaly and so many others, they start to blend together in his mind. They know, but they can't believe it; too rare they say, not possible. And subject him to even more tests, and threaten him when they think he's lying, until his mother gets upset and sweeps him away and his father insists they are done with the doctors.

One doctor holds up two lollipops and tells him he can have the red one. Yanagi stares at him and stares, and refuses both. It's the quickest way to turn a child off candy.

-

"Red, blue, and green," Sanada says, setting each tube of paint down as he speaks, in order, and Yanagi thinks he knows. He's never told anyone, other than his family, and Inui picked up on it; his teammates though, have no idea, or so he thinks. If Rikkai is great, it is because they all strive to be the best, and the best can have no faults. That's, Yanagi thinks, the biggest fault of the team he so loves. He knows it's not true, especially with their captain in the hospital, but knowing and understanding are two very different things. And that is on him.

But if Sanada knows and is not saying anything, and is in fact helping him - understanding might not be so foreign.

Many people, even those on the team but not the Regulars themselves, underestimate Sanada, write him off as Yukimura's lackey and a tempermental bully who does not understand as well as others do. But Yanagi's been friends with him long enough to know the truth and the truth aren't those thoughts.

"How many of each color should we paint?" he asks, reaching for a tennis ball and a paint brush. The paints are bright; if he studies them long enough, he thinks he'll be able to memorize the different tones.

-

He learns to work with different tones and shades; has his mother point out blues to him and memorizes that shade, but it's not as easy as he thinks it would be; different colors mimic the same shades, with little difference. It's those differences Yanagi learns to look for, spends a day studying three different shades of red and comparing them to similar shades of blue, and tries to figure them out.

It affects him in other ways too; the poetry his mother reads, the stories she tells; any mentions of colors and he is confused. What's green, he asks at night? Why is a fire red-hot?

The more frustrated he gets, the lack of comprehension with the world around him and the colors that dominate it, the more withdrawn he grows: seeking solace in his own world, where everything is black and white but nothing is, and in the end, it's easiest to keep his eyes closed rather than watch everything around him.

-

"Candy, Yanagi-sempai?" Kirihara asks, holding up a fistful of small hard candies. "The red one is really good."

"Akaya's only saying that because he doesn't like cherry," Marui says, and grabs a candy off the palm of Kirihara's hand. "Apple's the best."

Yanagi stares down at the handful of candy Kirihara is offering, then shakes his head. "I'm not a fan," he says. It doesn't matter though, because Kirihara shoves the candies at him and takes off at Marui, yelling.

Next to him, Sanada frowns after the pair. "Marui, stop tormenting Akaya. Akaya, stop running."

Yanagi's concentrating on the candies in his hands, so he doesn't hear the replies of either of his teammates. He's wondering what he should do with them, give them back or eat them, and ignore it if he likes any of the small candies.

Sanada solves the problem though, reaching across and rearranging the candies on his hand. "Grape, lemon, strawberry, blueberry, and watermelon," he tells Yanagi. "Marui grabbed the apple, but it doesn't matter. Watermelon's the best."

Yanagi lines them up carefully, memorizing the order, on the bottom of his locker, and picks them up just as carefully, each one going into a different pocket, so he can remember later.

The watermelon one he eats first.


	24. Feb 26th

Feb 26th; Pi [3.14etc (Inui/Yanagi); connected to Feb 10th, 14th, 16th, and 22nd.

-

"Slice of pie?" Yanagi asks, and pokes Inui in the shoulder, in an attempt to stir the other teenager.

"Three point one four one five nine two six five..." Inui murmurs, and shifts, drawing back from Yanagi in an attempt to escape the poking.

"Not that kind of pi," Yanagi tells him, and pokes him again. Sometimes, Yanagi thinks, the rest of Rikkai have rubbed off on him a little too much. "Pie you can eat."

"...five three five eight..."

"Sadaharu, there is no need to tell me the digits of Pi." Yanagi sighs and sets the plate down next to Inui's elbow, and walks around the table to sit across from him. "And you have to stop sneaking in here to work in the middle of the night. You should realize by now I'm not going to drink any of the juices in here."

"And you're talking to someone who is half-asleep." Inui's murmur is barely loud enough to be heard, half-mumbled into his arm.

"You should also stop pretending to sleep. Now eat your pie."


	25. Feb 27th

Feb 27th; Atobe/Oshitari (Rivalries).

-

"You're in my seat." Those are the first words Oshitari heard from Atobe Keigo, and it's the thing that stuck out the most from his first day in Hyoutei Gakuen. Oshitari turned to look at the boy whose name he didn't know at time, and found a imperious brat attempting to stare down at him.

"No I'm not," Oshitari replied, and turned around once again, the first to snub Atobe Keigo up to that point in his life. Oshitari never did tell Atobe he'd been watching from the corner of his eyes to see how Atobe would react.

"You're in my seat," Atobe repeated, glaring at the boy in his seat. "You have to move."

"The seats haven't been assigned yet," Oshitari told him. "And I like it here."

"But I had that seat in mind from the first time I found out that I'd be in this classroom!" Atobe protested and Oshitari couldn't hide his smirk when he saw Atobe place his hands on his hips.

"You weren't here to claim it, however. It's mine."

"That's enough, boys," the teacher interrupted. "You can both take seats at the back of the room."

Atobe huffed and glared at Oshitari, who only smirked in return.

-

"You just like to steal people's things, don't you?" Atobe complained, the first day of their second year, when he walked into the locker room to find Oshitari placing his belongings in what should have been his locker.

"This isn't your locker," Oshitari said, without glancing away from his locker; it was another time when he was watching Atobe from the corner of his eyes but wouldn't admit to it. "You haven't claimed it."

"I was planning on it." Atobe frowned. "It was my locker last year."

"The one right next to it is perfecly fine." Oshitari did glance at him then, just to see how he'd react.

"Then you can take it."

"Most of my stuff is already in this one."

"I don't-"

"Atobe, Oshitari, stop bickering now," the coach called across the room. "Or you'll both get laps."

-

"You are stealing my limelight," Atobe said, and if it weren't for the situation they were in, Oshitari would have laughed. "Why did it have to happen to you today, too?"

"Like I asked for it to happen." Oshitari had to resist rolling his eyes - that would have been far too much like Shishido and Muhaki - at Atobe's words, but even then, he couldn't help but study the other boy from the corner of his eyes.

"You could have stayed home."

"Why didn't you?" Oshitari asked, finally looking at him and not just to see how Atobe would react; it was a sincere question, not something mocking him.

"I do not like to miss class."

"Atobe, we're sitting in the locker room," Oshitari drawled. "You're missing class right now."

"Shut up," Atobe said, and threw a pillow at Oshitari, who grabbed it before it could hit him, and wrapped his arms around it. Much to Atobe's surprise, he did fall quiet, only to break the silence after a minutes.

"I've got bigger boobs than you do."


	26. Feb 28th

Feb 28th; Niou/Yagyuu (Liquorice).

-

"What kind of candy is this supposed to be?" Niou demands and spits out the candy he had just stuck in his mouth. "That's gross."

"Its liquorice," Yagyuu tells him and glances up from his homework. "I'm amazed to find something you dislike."

"Don't confuse me with Marui. I'm not the one who eats all the time and will gobble down sweets like they're all the same."

"Marui happens to have taste."

"What, does he like this stuff?" Niou asks, pointing to the half-eaten candy in the trash bin.

"Ask Yanagi that, I wouldn't know. But he can talk about different desserts like a connoisseur."

"That's because he spends too much time eating them." Niou rolls his eyes. "Come on, we're going to find some decent tasting candy rather than this medicine hiding as candy you have here."

"I happen to like liquorice."

"Of course you would. You like weird things like that. But you're going to have to acquire a taste for different candies if you want to be me."

"You're going to have to learn to like liquorice, then."

Niou pauses, glances back at Yagyuu and scowls.


End file.
